Features of Context According to Hymes

According to the linguist Hymes the interpretation of context provides a range of meanings. To prove this point I want to check the different features of context in the case of the cartoon you can see above:

addressor: the person on the left side – [probably] a young boy asks his friend (or at least a well- known person) a question

addressee: the person on the right side, also male, answers

topic: stalking a treasured woman

setting: both are at the same time at the same place ; they are smiling

channel: speech

code: they use casual English

message-form: chat

event: not a special event; they just meet somewhere and talk to each other – so they use colloquial language

key: funny conversation between two immature boys

purpose: one boy inform the other about a new “stalking method”: a twitter account